Literature Network » William Shakespeare

Down among the sinners; Dante's Inferno.(Dante's Inferno: A Verse Translation)(Dante: The Poet, the Political Thinker, the Man)(Book review)

Content courtesy of

From: The Economist (US)
Date: 20061202
Author:

Dante's voice, after 700 years, still speaks to us directly

TWO literary colossi, one English, the other Italian, bestride the map of Europe: William Shakespeare and Dante Alighieri. Chronologically, Dante is the more remote; he died of malaria in 1321 almost 250 years before Shakespeare was born. Yet Dante's greatest work, a long poem in three parts called "Commedia" or "The Divine Comedy", lives on as if written the other day, translations into English appearing with clockwork regularity.

This year's version by Sean O'Brien, a poet who grew up in the north of England, ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on William Shakespeare

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.